I have to say that I disagree on the maps issue. The way you two have done the maps, putting text on them, arrows, etc. has been FANTASTIC! It's really helped and many times all I did was read the maps and skim your text, the maps have it all!

Yes, I agree also, that the maps are as necessary as the narrative to telling the story. The statistics every 5 turns was an AWESOME idea! Truly, icing on the cake. All this PLUS the epic battle! I think this AAR has raised the bar considerably. All "text only" AAR's will certainly pale by comparison.

One thing I continually have asked myself during this AAR is "how did they get 60+ turns out of this game". It's really amazing to me that even at this late stage, I'm still wondering how the game doesn't simply collapse each turn.

I´m on a good way to destroy both army groups. The survivors of AG North are cutted off in Königsberg and will be dead or prisoners very soon. Warsaw is nearly helpless after i crushed the most of the defense line behind the Bug. Now the way is free to roll south.

Another forces overview which shows the definitive end is near for the German Army. The interesting fact here is to look at the Russian growth over the last 5 turns. It is practically non-existent except for a few divebombers and artillery pieces. Taking into account the fact that in the last turn the Russians suffered hardly any losses worth mentioning, this means that in turns 51 - 54 the Wehrmacht killed off nearly 5(!!) full turns of Soviet production.

Unfortunately, the Russians by now were able to hit back and despite suffering from a poorer kill ratio, they inflicted enough damage to mortally wound their enemy thereby winning the war in the East.

These last few rounds will determine if they can turn this into a total victory by capturing Bucharest.

Helsinki, Leningrad, Riga, Minsk, Maikop, together worth 25,000 production points for a grand total of 150,000 production points.

Germany has only two major (Warsaw and Bucharest) and 5 minor (Konigsberg, Ploesti, Kiev, Kharkov and Sevastopol) left, a mere 75,000 production points, with Konigsberg and Kharkov ready to fall and Warsaw in mortal danger, there will soon not be much left.

Indeed interesting George. Even i feel my forces stronger, the paper don´t lie. I had bigger losses while my attacks in the north especially while crossing the Bug and also in front of Stalingrad. But i had also turns with reduced infantry production (while i had high losses in infantry) to increase my strength in divebombers, mortars, tanks, trucks and artillery.

The production boosted my infaantry a lot this time especially since the losses are smaller than in previous turns. The recaptured production center started to work at full capacity so i can produce beside 500+ rifle III also a lot of mortars and trucks for more mobility and punch.

Nothing serious happened. My Stalingrad front tries to follow the germans on their way back... Only the planes did some damage there.

My Kharkov attack group took the city. Maikop was taken by partisans at the start of the german turn after i softened up the city defense by several air and ground attacks. These garrison fought very well.

The Baku front is now close to the Kerch straight after a very fast advance.

There is not much too say in these last few turns. Production has dropped to pre-war levels and losses are still high. The good news is that unless they execute some kind of airborne assault, the enemy will never capture Bucharest in time to claim total victory.

In the Ukraine, AG South has completed its redeployment and starts slamming into the Russian 3rd Front in the Fifth Battle of Kharkov. The relative raw Russian recruits suffer terrible casualties at the hands of experienced German Kampfgruppen supported by a Luftwaffe enjoying complete air supremacy in the area.

Yes, i like the fact that George give a good fight whatever happens. We both had periods in the game where we thought about surrendering (at least me...) but we continued. I played several guy´s who surrendered too early in my eyes, but George didn´t.

The fight at Kharkov was a surprise. George evacuated AG South very fast and with still a good strength. Powerful units while i had also a a lot of units, but mostly average (or less...) quality. Infantry only with some horses and a few tanks. And i had no air power there. George has a complete Army group with air support in this area i didn´t calculate to fight against

Even the capture of Warsaw was planned for this turn i wasn´t able to take it after George increased the defense a lot. So i used my artillery and attack troops to crush this new defense ring. My forces took 6 hexes and crippled/destroyed several german units. My forces are now close to Warsaw and the city is cutted off from the southern production. I think there is nothing that can prevent me from taking the city next turn !

Baku Front: The kerch straight is blocked by a very strong german guard in great defense positions. Won´t be easy to break, but i now have some artillery and planes there for.

Kharkov: I´m in trouble here. The regrouped AG South tries to recapture Kharkov. With my limited strength in this area i can never fight against these german forces. Would be suicide... However, i gave the order to hold the positions and not moving back whatever happens. Why ?

Stalingrad front: After beating the last germans in Rostov area these front has to move west and on their way drive in the back of german AG south. If the germans try to fight for longer at Kharkov they will come into a nutcracker. In addition i moved bigger parts of my air force in range to Kharkov to help with massive air attacks. And this time even Georges massive flak concentrations won´t help..... We´ll see what the germans do here.

As chimney stacks in the various Berlin ministries belched out black smoke from burning archives, the last manpower reserves of the Wehrmacht arrived in the Inferno called the Eastern Front and were consumed by the flames.

Warsaw was held but those still fighting in the bomb craters once called "houses" have little doubt as to the final outcome of the battle there.

Further to the South-East the Wehrmacht should have been withdrawing behind the Dniepr line and try and stop the Russian from capturing the vital crossings there. The commander of AG South however, had other plans...